William Niering

Botany Professor

August 31, 1999

William A. Niering, professor of botany at Connecticut College in New London and an internationally recognized wetlands expert, collapsed and died shortly after giving a lecture at the school Monday. He was 75.

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Niering had just delivered a speech to incoming freshmen about the merits of good citizenship and environmental stewardship when he collapsed outside Palmer Auditorium, university officials said.

The native of the Gales Ferry section of Ledyard had been teaching at the college since 1952.

Best known for his research in preserving tidal wetlands, Niering helped lay the groundwork for the passage of Connecticut's Tidal Wetlands Act of 1969. In 1996, he received the Governors Environmental Award.

Niering, the author of six books, was a founder and director of the Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies. He also was research director of the Connecticut College Arboretum and co-founder of the Connecticut chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

Niering served on the National Wetlands Technical Council, as associate director of the environmental biology program of the National Science Foundation and on the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Open Marsh Management Commission.

Niering is survived by his wife, Catherine. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Monday.